Former Hsinchu City Bureau of Cultural Affairs chief Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) yesterday admitted in court that she is the female in the now infamous sex-VCD which was illegally published by Scoop magazine five months ago.
It was the first time Chu admitted in public that she was the woman in the VCD.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei District Court (台北地方法院) Judges Hsu Shih-chen (徐世楨), Kuo Hui-ling (郭惠玲) and Li Hui-ping (黎惠萍) yesterday held the second pre-trial hearing in the sex-VCD scandal and summoned Chu and her married former boyfriend Tseng Chung-ming (曾仲銘) as witnesses, to clarify and identify two major items: First, are Tseng and Chu the couple in the VCD? Secondly, was the video shot and recorded at Chu's Tamsui apartment home?
The second hearing is a three-day hearing which began yesterday and will conclude tomorrow. Tseng did not show up and failed to ask for an excused absence for that hearing.
Yesterday, the court only summoned defendants Kuo Yu-ling (郭玉鈴), Kao Chun-chun (高淳淳), Shen Yeh (沈野), Shen Jung (沈嶸), Wei An (韋安) and Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅). Tsai asked for sick leave and was the only one not to show up.
Judges approved a request by Kuo's lawyer Lee Ming-yu (李明諭) to play the 47-minute sex VCD in court for Chu to identify herself. Before the VCD started, Hsu, the judge, cleared the courtroom, including reporters.
"Due to the pornographic content of the VCD, the court now asks the public to leave the courtroom temporarily while the VCD is played," he said.
Chung Yung-sheng (鍾永盛), Chu's lawyer, left the courtroom and talked to the press while the VCD was still being played and examined by judges, prosecutors and lawyers. He said that Chu identified the characters in the sex video immediately.
"Judges offered Chu an option to take a break in another room if she didn't feel comfortable while the VCD was being played and she took it," Chung said.
The hearing resumed and Chu returned to the courtroom in approximately an hour.
She confirmed the location as her Tamsui residence and told judges that she first read the stories in the magazine and knew for sure that she was shot by hidden cameras when she was interviewed by Prosecutor Lu Hsiao-yuan (盧筱筠) on Dec. 31 last year.
Asked why she is so sure that she's the one in the video, Chu said, "That was me. I knew it."
When she was asked to identify the male in bed with her, she said, "It is my understanding that it is Tseng."
Taipei Senior Prosecutor Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) indicted 11 people involved in the case on Feb. 7.
The 11 are Kuo, described as a spiritual teacher who was also one of Chu's closest friends, with a recommended four-year sentence; Kuo's 19-year-old daughter, Kao; former Hsinchu mayor Tsai, with a recommended one-year sentence; Scoop magazine President Shen Yeh, with a recommended two-year-and-two-month sentence; his daughter, who is also the publisher of the magazine, Shen Jung, with a recommended one-year-and-four-month sentence; Shen Yeh's assistant Wei with a recommended one-year-and-ten-month sentence; the magazine's employees Lin Jia-nan (林家男), Shao Wei-hsin (邵偉信), Wang Hsu-yun (王緒筠) and Wang Ya-wei (王亞唯); and Chung-ti Technology's (中帝科技) owner Hu Chung-lin (胡鍾琳).
Chung-ti Technology was the company that produced and duplicated the VCD for Scoop magazine.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
BOOST IN CONFIDENCE: The sale sends a clear message of support for Taiwan and dispels rumors that US President Donald Trump ‘sold out’ the nation, an expert said The US government on Thursday announced a possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet parts, which was estimated to cost about US$330 million, in a move that an expert said “sends a clear message of support for Taiwan” amid fears that Washington might be wavering in its attitude toward Taipei. It was the first announcement of an arms sale to Taiwan since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. The proposed package includes non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, as well repair and return support for the F-16, C-130 and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft,
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
RSS